A Letter From Eleanor
A letter from Eleanor, founder of Thatcher & Hale
Main Street, Aspen, Colorado. October 2026.
A letter from the founderMost of What a Woman Puts On in October Has to Be Managed All Day. This Does Not.
On the six things I looked for before the Emma came into the shop, how it compares to what you have been wearing, and why it is $49.95 this fall.
I am Eleanor Hale. I opened Thatcher & Hale on Main Street in Aspen in 1994, and I have chosen every piece in it myself since. I do not buy for the wedding. I buy for the Tuesday.
October here is cold at eight, warm by noon and cold again by four. Most women I know meet it with the same thing, a long open cardigan.
You know how that goes. It slides off one shoulder. It will not stay closed, so you hold it shut with one hand and carry the groceries with the other. It pulls across the back when you reach for the seat belt. By the afternoon you have adjusted it forty times and stopped noticing that you do.
I have never thought a woman should have to manage her clothes all day.
The Emma is my answer for this stretch of the year. It is a knit poncho with a hood and real sleeves, and there were six things I looked for before I let it into the shop.
1It goes on in one gesture
There is no zipper and there are no buttons. You put it over your head and you are dressed.
I check this first, because the pieces a woman stops wearing are nearly always the ones that take two hands and a mirror. Whatever is by the door at seven in the morning is what gets worn.
2It falls from the shoulder and rests on nothing
The cut is wide on purpose. The knit hangs from the shoulder line and drops straight to the hip without resting on the middle, the back or the upper arm.
Nothing clings and nothing outlines. A woman should not have to think about her waist in order to go and buy milk.
3It has sleeves, and they stop short of the wrist
Most ponchos are a blanket with a hole in it, and you spend the day with your arms trapped underneath. This one has three-quarter sleeves.
Your hands are free to drive, to carry and to wash up, and the cuff never ends up in the sink. Your watch stays where you can see it.
4It is open at the sides, so it sits when you sit
A wide layer with a closed hem rides up the moment you get into a car, and then you are tugging it down in the parking lot.
The Emma has a slit at each side of the hem. It settles around you in a chair and falls back into place when you stand.
5It has a hood, so the scarf can stay on its hook
By late afternoon the wind comes down the valley, and that is the hour most women find out the scarf is still at home.
The hood has a drawstring. It stays up when you want it up and lies flat on your back the rest of the day.
6Navy, in eight sizes, at one price
I chose navy over black because black is hard on a face after a certain age and navy is not. It goes over jeans, over straight trousers, over whatever you already own.
It runs from S to 5XL and no size costs more than another. Order the size you usually wear. It is meant to hang loose.
I will say what it is not. It is not a coat, and in January you will want one over it. It is for the months when a coat is too much and a sweater is not enough.
The Emma, against the long cardigan
Most women I know own two or three long cardigans, and I have sold a good many myself. Here is the difference, laid out plainly.
The long cardigan
- Two hands and a mirror to put on
- Held shut, or left gaping
- Pulls across the back and hips
- Cuffs in the sink
- Rides up and bunches in the car
- Needs a scarf by four
The Emma
- Over your head, once
- Nothing to close
- Falls from the shoulder
- Sleeves that stop short of the wrist
- Open at the sides
- Has a hood
I will not sell a woman something she has to hold shut. That is the whole reason the Emma is in the shop.
Why it is $49.95 this fall
The Emma came in at $129.95. This is the first season my daughter Caroline has done the buying with me, and between the two of us we ordered more than this shop can hold. The winter pieces arrive next, and I need the room.
So the fall floor is going out at clearance prices, the Emma among them. I would rather it were worn this October than folded in my stockroom until next year. I order in small runs, and the middle sizes always go first.
The extra discount is applied at checkout, on its own, and you can mix pieces from across the shop.
I have watched a good many women try this on in front of my mirror. They put it over their head, they look, and then they all do the same thing. They let their hands drop.
Eleanor Hale, founder, Thatcher & Hale
That is what I was looking for. Not a compliment. A woman who has stopped adjusting.
Go and find your size.
Eleanor
The Emma knit poncho
- Over your head in one gesture, no zipper, no buttons
- Wide cut that falls from the shoulder to the hip
- Three-quarter sleeves, side slits and a drawstring hood
- S to 5XL, every size the same price
- Free shipping with UPS and a 30-day money-back guarantee
Take more than one: 10% extra off two pieces, up to 25% extra off five.
See if your size is still hereEleanor opened Thatcher & Hale on Main Street in 1994 and still chooses every piece herself. Her daughter Caroline now does the buying beside her.
A letter from the founder of Thatcher & Hale. Free shipping with UPS within the United States. 30-day money-back guarantee.